Trent Alexander-Arnold could be sold for big-money to help fund an overhaul of Liverpool's squad before next season.
That's the view of former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino, who made the unexpected suggestion while discussing the Reds' current woes on TalkSPORT.
Jurgen Klopp's side has badly underachieved this term and currently have a fight on their hands just to qualify for Europe, let alone the Champions League. Currently eighth in the Premier League table, they travel to Leeds United on Monday in search of their first away win since February 18. The club's German boss is expected to ring the changes in the summer but in order to help boost his transfer kitty, Cascarino believes that offloading Alexander-Arnold could help fund an influx of fresh talent, especially after interest in Jude Bellingham was cooled last week, due the the financial commitment required.
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Speaking on the Weekend Sports Breakfast show, Cascarino said: “They had this problem before they got Alisson and Van Dijk, but they did the right deals to bring in the money and bring in the right players who made a massive difference. You have to earn more money, that’s the only way you can challenge and compete against these teams.”
The show's co-host Natalie Sawyer argued: “They don’t have a Coutinho they can sell on and generate the money though, do they?”
Cascarino responded: “Not really, no. Who would you say is at the right age is the most favourable player at Liverpool [for other clubs] at the moment? You’d probably say Trent. Even though he’s had a difficult year, Trent is of an age – he’s 24 – where you can still get a really big deal for him.
“He’s a Barcelona type of player, or a team that wants to play the way Trent does. They’ve still got some young lads they’re excited about at Liverpool, but it’s a very difficult one to imagine how Liverpool and how Klopp are going to deal with what’s in front of them.
“It’s a challenge because Manchester United have spent big, Chelsea will always do that, Arsenal are quite clearly an emerging club with a very young team, so there are now a lot more competitors around Liverpool for the Champions League spots.”
In his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Elland Road on Monday, Klopp admitted that the club needing to be realistic in it's transfer spending plans.
He said: “We cannot dream, we cannot be angry if we don’t get this or we don’t get that. It is clear other clubs can do in some situations more than us. Am I angry that we can’t do this or that? No, I am not. I don’t agree all the time with everything we do… but I am employed here. I am not here to be angry about things that will work out or not work out.”
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